HBA-CCH, MPM H.B. 2082 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2082 By: Eiland Public Health 3/21/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, services provided at a federally qualified health center (FQHC) are included among the optional services that a county may offer under the state's Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. The funding a county gives to such a FQHC can be counted toward meeting the eight percent spending threshold a county must surpass to receive state funding. In order to apply this money toward the threshold, however, the county must spend the money on services for people who meet the eligibility criteria laid out in the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. House Bill 2082 allows counties to credit money given to FQHC's toward the eight percent threshold regardless of whether the clients served meet the eligibility criteria of the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2082 amends the Health and Safety Code to provide that a county expenditure made for optional health care services provided by a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in accordance with the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act and rules adopted by the Texas Department of Health is included for purposes of determining whether the county meets the minimum expenditure level imposed by current law, regardless of whether individuals served by the FQHC meet the income and resource eligibility requirements. The bill applies only to indigent health care services that are delivered on or after January 1, 2002. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.